Will v. The Trailer

Well, it has been raining here . . . a lot. We had 4.8 inches in February plus we will probably get another 0.5 inch today. For comparison, Salt Lake City ended February with a whopping 0.85 inches for February. The mountains are very green. But, when it rains pours; literally and metaphorically. The humidity level has been so high for so long that we are running into a slight problem with mildew in the trailer. A house can equalize temperature and humidity fairly well whereas my trailer with its 192 square feet and single pane windows is struggling a wee bit.

So first things first. I decided that half of the problem is that we weren't getting a good amount of airflow in the trailer; especially since we've been using a space heater (electricity is free here). One side of the trailer is 80 degrees and the other is 60 degrees. So a grand council was convened and it was decreed that a new thermostat for the trailer was needed. I needed one that you could program the fan to run on its own schedule independently of the furnace. This would even-out the temperature and improve airflow to some of the problem corners.

Jumpin' Gee Wilickers Batman! Wherever will you find such a thermostat? To Ebay, Robin!

Well, the new thermostat arrived in short order and I tried to install it. White wire to "W" - check. Red wire to "R" - check. Green wire to "G" - . . . oh booger. I don't have a green wire. As this wire controls the fan operation (which was the whole point of the new thermostat), this discovery was fairly problematic. So I pulled the wiring schematic for the furnace and started to analyze. It didn't make much sense but I was able to come to the unassailable conclusion that there would be no green wire.

Running a new wire ended up being harder than I would have thought. I had to remove two light units, a speaker, a ceiling vent, the access panel in the closet, and the front grill of the heater to get the wire to the right place. There is only about 3" of clearance in a trailer ceiling and 1 inch in the wall the thermostat is on so I had to feed the line from opening to opening to get it where it needed to go. Lots of cuts, scrapes, murmuring and gnashing of teeth later I now have a green wire.

Since I was going to have to connect this green wire to the furnace somewhere I decided I better understand how the thermostat was working. So I used my multi-meter to determine which lines were doing what and when. I knew what had to happen but not how to do it. So I recruited John to help with the project. It was decided that the thermostat must have a way to change a setting. But I had reviewed all of that. I had gone into the appropriate menu but there was no such option.

Disappointment? Frustration? Anger? No! That is for lesser men who do not have the internet. It turns out there is a secret menu - like In-n-Out Burger except it won't give you fries with your order. Once inside this new magical realm all sorts of possibilities emerged. I was granted greater power than all of my wildest dreams! Well at least the ability to make the green wire have 12.54 volts of power when it was supposed to. I could scarcely contain my joy.

After that, I just had to cut and splice two wires at the furnace, put everything back together, and then sit back and bask in the glow of another manly task completed.